Liverpool will be wary of Man City's threat in the Premier League title race, despite Pep Guardiola's side entering a tough patch
Sport
Updated 08:05, 04 Dec 2024
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Kyle Walker of Manchester City
Kyle Walker of Manchester City(Image: Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
If Pep Guardiola had a reason to drop Kyle Walker, allowing Cody Gakpo to run through to an unguarded back post so he could score Liverpool's opener on Sunday is as good as any. However, the Manchester City veteran has received backing from the unlikeliest of sources - Mohamed Salah.
The Reds beat their long-term Premier League title rivals 2-0 at weekend to extend their lead at the table's summit to nine points over Arsenal and Chelsea, then 11 points over Brighton and Man City. A toothless collective performance from the visitors was never going to be a match for Arne Slot's confidence-filled team.
City's diminishing mentality has been charted throughout their ongoing seven-game winless streak. Players that once showed no signs of weakness in title-winning campaigns are beginning to crumble.
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One of those is 34-year-old Walker. The full-back has seemingly lost a yard of pace to deal with opposing wingers such as Gakpo, which was seen as he resembled a statue in the penalty area before turning around to see the Dutchman tap-in with 12 minutes played.
The week before he was outpaced by Tottenham's Timo Werner for one of the goals in that 4-0 romp, and these are not the only two examples of shortcomings involving the Englishman. Guardiola, who dropped goalkeeper Ederson for the Anfield trip last week following his own string of errors in November, could therefore be forced into a similar decision if he is to mastermind a way for Man City to close the gap on Liverpool.
Yet Salah has put some amount of trust in Walker to bounce back from his nightmare playing against Liverpool by adding the defender to his Fantasy Premier League team. Man City are hosting sixth-placed Nottingham Forest next in the English top-flight.
Talk about confidence... prior to last weekend the Egyptian had been spotted captaining himself for the Man City clash whilst also transferring out Ederson and Josko Gvardiol of his team.
But undoubtedly Salah will be hoping to see the Manchester club fall further behind in the advancing title race, as the Reds aim to be crowned champions for a 20th time in their history.